1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for performing oilfield operations relating to subterranean formations having reservoirs therein. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for performing oilfield operations involving an analysis of reservoir operations, and their impact on such oilfield operations.
2. Background of the Related Art
Oilfield operations, such as surveying, drilling, wireline testing, completions, simulation, planning and oilfield analysis, are typically performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids. Various aspects of the oilfield and its related operations are shown in FIGS. 1A-1D. As shown in FIG. 1A, surveys are often performed using acquisition methodologies, such as seismic scanners to generate maps of underground structures. These structures are often analyzed to determine the presence of subterranean assets, such as valuable fluids or minerals. This information is used to assess the underground structures and locate the formations containing the desired subterranean assets. Data collected from the acquisition methodologies may be evaluated and analyzed to determine whether such valuable items are present, and if they are reasonably accessible.
As shown in FIG. 1B-1D, one or more wellsites may be positioned along the underground structures to gather valuable fluids from the subterranean reservoirs. The wellsites are provided with tools capable of locating and removing hydrocarbons from the subterranean reservoirs. As shown in FIG. 1B, drilling tools are typically advanced from the oil rigs and into the earth along a given path to locate the valuable downhole fluids. During the drilling operation, the drilling tool may perform downhole measurements to investigate downhole conditions. In some cases, as shown in FIG. 1C, the drilling tool is removed and a wireline tool is deployed into the wellbore to perform additional downhole testing.
After the drilling operation is complete, the well may then be prepared for production. As shown in FIG. 1D, wellbore completions equipment is deployed into the wellbore to complete the well in preparation for the production of fluid therethrough. Fluid is then drawn from downhole reservoirs, into the wellbore and flows to the surface. Production facilities are positioned at surface locations to collect the hydrocarbons from the wellsite(s). Fluid drawn from the subterranean reservoir(s) passes to the production facilities via transport mechanisms, such as tubing. Various equipments may be positioned about the oilfield to monitor oilfield parameters and/or to manipulate the oilfield operations.
During the oilfield operations, data is typically collected for analysis and/or monitoring of the oilfield operations. Such data may include, for example, subterranean formation, equipment, historical and/or other data. Data concerning the subterranean formation is collected using a variety of sources. Such formation data may be static or dynamic. Static data relates to, for example, formation structure and geological stratigraphy that define the geological structure of the subterranean formation. Dynamic data relates to, for example, fluids flowing through the geologic structures of the subterranean formation over time. Such static and/or dynamic data may be collected to learn more about the formations and the valuable assets contained therein.
Sources used to collect static data may be seismic tools, such as a seismic truck that sends compression waves into the earth as shown in FIG. 1A. These waves are measured to characterize changes in the density of the geological structure at different depths. This information may be used to generate basic structural maps of the subterranean formation. Other static measurements may be gathered using core sampling and well logging techniques. Core samples may be used to take physical specimens of the formation at various depths as shown in FIG. 1B. Well logging typically involves deployment of a downhole tool into the wellbore to collect various downhole measurements, such as density, resistivity, etc., at various depths. Such well logging may be performed using, for example, the drilling tool of FIG. 1B and/or the wireline tool of FIG. 1C. Once the well is formed and completed, fluid flows to the surface using production tubing as shown in FIG. 1D. As fluid passes to the surface, various dynamic measurements, such as fluid flow rates, pressure, and composition may be monitored. These parameters may be used to determine various characteristics of the subterranean formation.
Sensors may be positioned about the oilfield to collect data relating to various oilfield operations. For example, sensors in the drilling equipment may monitor drilling conditions, sensors in the wellbore may monitor fluid composition, sensors located along the flow path may monitor flow rates, and sensors at the processing facility may monitor fluids collected. Other sensors may be provided to monitor downhole, surface, equipment or other conditions. The monitored data is often used to make decisions at various locations of the oilfield at various times. Data collected by these sensors may be further analyzed and processed. Data may be collected and used for current or future operations. When used for future operations at the same or other locations, such data may sometimes be referred to as historical data.
The processed data may be used to predict downhole conditions, and make decisions concerning oilfield operations. Such decisions may involve well planning, well targeting, well completions, operating levels, production rates and other operations and/or conditions. Often this information is used to determine when to drill new wells, re-complete existing wells, or alter wellbore production.
Data from one or more wellbores may be analyzed to plan or predict various outcomes at a given wellbore. In some cases, the data from neighboring wellbores or wellbores with similar conditions or equipment may be used to predict how a well will perform. There are usually a large number of variables and large quantities of data to consider in analyzing oilfield operations. It is, therefore, often useful to model the behavior of the oilfield operation to determine the desired course of action. During the ongoing operations, the operating conditions may need adjustment as conditions change and new information is received.
Techniques have been developed to model the behavior of various aspects of the oilfield operations, such as geological structures, downhole reservoirs, wellbores, surface facilities as well as other portions of the oilfield operation. Typically, there are different types of simulators for different purposes. For example, there are simulators that focus on reservoir properties, wellbore production, or surface processing. Examples of simulators that may be used at the wellsite are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,519 and WO2004049216. Other examples of these modeling techniques are shown in Patent/Publication Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,519, U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,837, WO1999/064896, WO2005/122001, US2003/0216897, US2003/0132934, US2005/0149307, and US2006/0197759.
Typically, simulators are designed to model specific behavior of discrete portions of the wellbore operation. Due to the complexity of the oilfield operation, most simulators are capable of only evaluating a specific segment of the overall production system, such as simulation of the reservoir. Simulations of portions of the wellsite operation, such as reservoir simulation, flow through the wellbore or surface processing, are usually considered and used individually.
A change in any segment of the production system, however, often has cascading effects on the upstream and downstream segments of the production system. For example, restrictions in the surface network can reduce productivity of the reservoir. Separate simulations typically fail to consider the data or outputs of other simulators, and fail to consider these cascading effects.
Recent attempts have been made to consider a broader range of data in oilfield operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,980,940 to Gurpinar discloses integrated reservoir optimization involving the assimilation of diverse data to optimize overall performance of a reservoir. In another example, WO04049216 to Ghorayeb discloses an integrated modeling solution for coupling multiple reservoir simulations and surface facility networks. Other examples of such recent attempts are disclosed in Patent/Publication/Application Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,101, U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,497, U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,869, GB2336008, U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,561, US2006/0184329, U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,990, US20040220846, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/586,283. Some simulation techniques involve the use of coupled simulations as described, for example, in Publication No. US2006/0129366.
Despite the development and advancement of wellbore modeling and/or simulation techniques in discrete oilfield operations, there remains a need to provide techniques capable of performing simulations over selective portions of the oilfield operation. It would be desirable to have a system that performs simulations that consider data throughout the oilfield operation. In some cases, it may be desirable to selectively link or couple certain simulators so that a combined simulation may be performed using data from the linked simulators. In other cases, it may be desirable to selectively link simulators so that each simulator performs its own simulation, but shares data and/or outputs with other simulator(s). It is further desirable that such techniques be capable of one of more of the following, among others: selectively modeling oilfield operations based on more than one simulator; selectively merging data and/or outputs of more than one simulator; selectively merging data and/or outputs of simulators of one or more wellsites and/or oilfields; selectively linking a wide variety of simulators of like and/or different configurations; selectively linking simulators having similar and/or different applications and/or data models; selectively linking simulators of different members of an asset team of an oilfield; and providing coupling mechanisms capable of selectively linking simulators in a desired configuration.